Background
The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), with financing from the World Bank under the CARE for South Asia project, is developing climate-resilient transport guidelines for roads and bridges across South Asia. As part of this initiative, SWN—working in a consortium led by TRL—is providing technical support to develop climate-resilient transport guidelines and to prepare detailed recommendations for upgrading road and bridge design standards in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Objective of the Assignment
The project aimed to:
- Examine existing standards related to climate resilience.
- Assess gaps where climate adaptation and resilience considerations were insufficient.
- Identify opportunities to revise road and bridge standards and specifications to improve climate resilience.
- Support climate resilience policies and investments across relevant sectors and countries in South Asia.
- Develop climate-resilient transport (roads and bridges) guidelines specifically tailored for Nepal.
- Provide detailed recommendations for upgrading Nepal’s road and bridge design standards.
- Conduct a gap analysis to identify priority areas where standards require revision.
Key Activities and Services Provided by SWN
SWN and the project team carried out the following activities:
- Conducted a comprehensive gap assessment to inform revisions and enhancements to Nepal’s existing road construction standards.
- Prepared Technical Recommendation Reports (TRRs) for:
- Nepal Bridge Standard, DoR 2067
- Hydrologic and Hydraulic Analysis and River Training Works for Bridge Design, DoR 2021
- Guidelines for the Design of Flexible Pavement, Second Edition (2021)
- Developed a Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Guideline for Nepal’s Roads to guide practitioners on appropriate NbS applications for road infrastructure.
- Designed NbS-based and low-cost engineering mitigation solutions for three landslide demonstration sites identified by the Department of Roads (DoR) and the Department of Local Infrastructure (DoLI).
Outputs
- Gaps and Challenges report
- Nature-based Solutions Guideline for Nepal
- Regional Guideline for Climate Resilience in South Asia
- Technical Recommendation reports for standards in Nepal
- Design solutions for three landslide sites in Nepal
